Chapter Summaries

Lu Xiu defeated Zane in close combat, killing him and dispersing the fog that had covered Maple Leaf Avenue. As the battlefield and the watching guild leaders came into view, Zane’s last words left Ray with a dark purple item and a command to win.

• Zane compressed the fog around Lu Xiu into a sealed barrier and launched a desperate spear attack, but she parried it and pierced his heart with the Loathing Halberd.
• Lu Xiu lifted Zane on the halberd, then slammed him into the ground, causing him to dissolve into white light.
• Zane threw a dark purple crystal toward Ray and urged him to kill Lu Xiu and win before he vanished.
• Zane’s death caused the fog to fall still and then break apart, revealing the battlefield and the fighting players.
• Jiang Qiu, Xiao Chi, Zhao Qingdai, Li Zhong, and Wei Zhe saw the battlefield clearly and were stunned.
• Lu Xiu looked at the spot where Zane had vanished and struggled to maintain her role.

Lu Xiu fought Lei after he crushed Zane’s crystal and gained a powerful boost. She summoned heavenly lightning through the Nameless Blade, deflected Lei’s attacks, and killed him, leaving the battlefield’s survivors staring at her in fear.

• Lei crushed the dark-purple crystal Zane had left behind, healing his wounds and greatly boosting his strength, agility, and talent skill.
• Lu Xiu drew lightning from the storm clouds with the Nameless Blade and faced Lei’s lightning-enhanced charge.
• Lu Xiu repeatedly used Perfect Deflect to turn aside Lei’s giant-axe strikes while his health fell into the red.
• Lei leaped into the air and attacked again, but Lu Xiu dodged his axe and slashed through his neck with heavenly lightning.
• Lei’s body and head dissolved into streams of light, and Lu Xiu surveyed the battlefield as the Prison Rock players and other onlookers recoiled in fear.

Lu Xiu watched the battle after killing the two powerful Prison Rock players, while the survivors began to see her as an unstoppable threat. A Prison Rock fighter tried to order a retreat, but a deafening roar cut her off.

• Zhao Qingdai, Wei Zhe, and Li Zhong decided against approaching Lu Xiu after seeing her defeat two Prison Rock fighters.
• Xiao Chi joked about Lu Xiu, while Jiang Qiu watched her with admiration.
• Lu Xiu stayed out of the remaining fights, believing she was not invincible and worrying that joining in would make her look like a battle maniac.
• The surviving Prison Rock players grew desperate as they watched Lu Xiu stand unharmed with her blade and lightning.
• A female Prison Rock player facing Fan Lixin called for her companions to split up and retreat, but a powerful roar interrupted her.

Jian Li arrived and helped Lu Xiu and the Strategy Group wipe out the Prison Rock attackers, but Queenie avoided defeat by defecting to the Nine Provinces and offering intelligence. Her offer was undercut when the system announced that Zhang Chongshan had defected to Prison Rock, leaving the Strategy Group facing a new betrayal.

• Jian Li crashed into the battlefield and killed a Prison Rock player, terrifying the remaining attackers as Lu Xiu and the Strategy Group gained the advantage.
• Wei Yidong, Cheng Xiu, and the other Strategy Group members killed the remaining Prison Rock players, while the scarred giant and another enemy vowed to meet them again in the new version.
• Queenie dodged Fan Lixin’s punch and swore allegiance to the Nine Provinces, gaining permanent player status and a 24-hour shield against damage from its players.
• Fan Lixin summoned Ah Yi, who applied a powerful weakness effect to Queenie despite her shield, while Queenie offered Lu Xiu intelligence about Prison Rock’s players and instances.
• The system announced that Zhang Chongshan had defected to Prison Rock, and Queenie warned the Strategy Group that betrayal was part of the gameplay.

After Zhang Chongshan betrayed the Nine Provinces players, Queenie tried to use the information gap to persuade the Strategy Group to accept her, but Cheng Xiu said the group could not decide and denied that guides would make them helpless. Lu Xiu checked on Jian Li, learned about her [Silver Dragon] talent, then left the scene and returned to the apartment, ready to run her dungeon.

• Wei Yidong cursed Zhang Chongshan for betraying their side, while Queenie explained why players might defect and offered to share her knowledge of Prison Rock dungeons.
• Cheng Xiu told Queenie that the Strategy Group could not decide whether to accept her and said even players with guides struggled through the dungeons.
• Lu Xiu asked Jian Li about Zhang Chongshan, learned he had once belonged to the Strategy Group, and reassured Jian Li that she was not to blame for someone getting through.
• Jian Li showed Lu Xiu her [Silver Dragon] talent, and Lu Xiu touched its scales before threatening to cut Jian Li when her gaze strayed.
• Lu Xiu left the battlefield and told Jian Li to pass a message to Yan Fushou; Han Xiao saluted and thanked her when she returned to the apartment.
• Lu Xiu went upstairs, thinking that the special event was over and she could finally run her dungeon.

After the cross-realm battle, the Coordination Bureau debated whether Queenie and Zhang Chongshan had betrayed their sides or were acting as spies, while weighing Lu Xiu’s unexpectedly formidable combat abilities. Lu Xiu began planning a hand-to-hand combat dungeon, but the special event’s settlement announcement revealed widespread deaths among core architects and a disastrous world rating.

• Cheng Xiu argued that Queenie might have defected to infiltrate the Nine Provinces and gather information about Lu Xiu, and Yan Fushou agreed that her intelligence could not be trusted.
• Wei Yidong asked whether Zhang Chongshan might also be acting undercover, and Cheng Xiu said they would have to wait for the returning players to learn what had happened to him.
• The Strategy Group described Lu Xiu’s exceptional combat skills, and Yan Fushou decided she no longer needed close personal protection, but Jian Li insisted that it was still necessary.
• Back at her apartment, Lu Xiu reviewed the battle and decided to design her next dungeon around Sifu so she could develop unarmed combat skills.
• The system announced that the special event had ended, rated the Nine Provinces IV and the world V, and reported that only the Nine Provinces and Franca had won while many regions had lost core architects permanently.

Lu Xiu read the forums’ reactions to the special event and worried about regions shattered by betrayal before deciding to focus on strengthening herself. At the Coordination Bureau, Shen Nian reported on the battle at Prison Rock and demonstrated her new skill by accidentally splitting Yan Fushou’s teacup and cutting off some of his hair.

• Lu Xiu browsed the Nine Provinces forum, where players celebrated the victory, cursed Zhang Chongshan, and speculated about Lu Xiu’s identity.
• Lu Xiu viewed a defeated region’s forum and saw players grieving their dead architects and condemning the vanguard members who had betrayed them.
• Lu Xiu considered how fractured regions might fare in future events, then set aside her worries and returned to strengthening herself.
• Yan Fushou questioned the five surviving Strategy Group players about Prison Rock, and Shen Nian described its wasteland environment, ruthless fighters, and the team’s effort to help her kill its core Architect.
• Shen Nian explained her void-like title skill and demonstrated her new blade skill, accidentally cutting Yan Fushou’s teacup in half and sending his remaining hair flying.

After Shen Nian demonstrated her new spatial-slash skill, Yan Fushou ordered reports on the Prison Rock operation and planned to question Queenie for intelligence. Imprisoned in the Coordination Bureau, Queenie searched Nine Provinces’ forums and dungeon library, then was stunned to find that all four of Lu Xiu’s dungeons were S-rank or higher; the Bureau’s director decided to let her try them as reconnaissance.

• Shen Nian accidentally cut off a large portion of Yan Fushou’s hair while demonstrating her spatial-slash skill, and Yan ordered her and the others to submit detailed reports.
• Yan reminded Shen Nian to continue contacting Lu Xiu and planned to compare Queenie’s intelligence with the operation reports to investigate Prison Rock’s dungeons and Zhang Chongshan’s possible betrayal.
• After more than ten hours of questioning, Queenie returned to her heavily fortified cell and decided to survive, explore Lu Xiu’s dungeons, and eventually pass intelligence to Prison Rock.
• Queenie searched Nine Provinces’ forum for praise of Lu Xiu but instead found players angrily complaining about Outlast and another dungeon.
• Queenie checked the Dungeon Library and discovered that Lu Xiu had made only four dungeons—Resident Evil and Outlast were S-rank, while Sekiro and Titanfall were SS-rank.
• Yan Fushou proposed sedating Queenie, but the old man refused and decided she should test Lu Xiu’s dungeons so the Coordination Bureau could learn how difficult they were for Prison Rock players.

Queenie entered Lu Xiu’s Instances expecting to mine their rewards for Prison Rock, but Resident Evil and Sekiro repeatedly overwhelmed her. She adapted to Sekiro’s combat rules enough to defeat the Samurai General, only to be broken by the Chained Ogre.

• Queenie saw that Lu Xiu had only four highly rated Instances and decided to clear them and pass their designs to Prison Rock.
• Queenie entered Resident Evil, was frightened by its survival-horror challenges, and returned to her cell after less than an hour.
• After resting, Queenie tried Resident Evil again, lasted longer, and concluded that she should switch to a combat Instance.
• Queenie entered Sekiro and repeatedly died while struggling to adapt to its unfamiliar combat mechanics.
• Queenie finally defeated the Samurai General, then encountered the Chained Ogre and was ejected after dying.
• Two Coordination Bureau guards agreed that Lu Xiu’s Instances broke everyone equally, including themselves.

Queenie’s repeated attempts at Lu Xiu’s dungeons left her furious and bewildered, while Zhang Chongshan unexpectedly cleared Derek’s dungeon on his first try. The Prison Rock guards realized his high rating could reveal intelligence and moved to knock him out.

• Queenie skipped Titanfall and entered Lu Xiu’s newest dungeon, Outlast, but returned in under ten minutes and began posting curses about Lu Xiu.
• Yan Fushou had Queenie brought to the interrogation room, where she asked how people stopped themselves from killing their constructor.
• Zhang Chongshan emerged from Derek’s dungeon and remarked that it had seemed unusually simple.
• The Prison Rock players saw Zhang Chongshan’s high rating and realized he had cleared Derek’s dungeon on his first try.
• A Prison Rock warrior ordered the others to knock Zhang Chongshan out before he could gather more intelligence.

Lu Xiu constructed a nightclub combat instance filled with superpowered enemies and designed an unarmed deflection system to help her withstand stronger opponents. After testing it and finding the early fights brutally difficult, she adjusted the progression notes and repeatedly practiced, rapidly improving her ability to deflect attacks.

• Lu Xiu built a nightclub scene populated by powerful thugs whose punches wielded lightning and fire.
• Lu Xiu designed the protagonist's combat around deflecting attacks, since hard blocks caused heavy health and posture damage.
• Lu Xiu tested the mechanics, deflected a lightning punch, then was struck by a faster follow-up and stopped the test.
• Lu Xiu added notes to lengthen early enemy combos and adjust the protagonist's attributes and deflection timing as age increased.
• Lu Xiu repeatedly re-entered the fight, refining her movements and learning to handle attacks from multiple enemies.

Shen Nian, displaced after Lu Xiu accidentally blasted open her apartment wall, asked to stay with Lu Xiu while repairs were underway. Lu Xiu refused, and Jian Li reacted with an ominous glare as Shen Nian considered Lu Xiu’s joking condition of wearing a maid outfit.

• Shen Nian learned her apartment would remain under repair for some time and decided she could not bear another night in a hotel.
• Shen Nian met Jian Li outside Lu Xiu’s apartment, and the two went upstairs to find Lu Xiu.
• Lu Xiu instinctively pinned Shen Nian when she reached to move hair from Lu Xiu’s face, then apologized and said muscle memory had taken over.
• Shen Nian praised Lu Xiu’s combat technique, while Lu Xiu hinted that the dungeon she was building would be revealed later.
• Shen Nian asked to stay with Lu Xiu, but Lu Xiu refused and jokingly said she might reconsider if Shen Nian wore a maid outfit.
• Jian Li fixed Shen Nian with a blank, oppressive glare as Shen Nian seriously considered the maid outfit condition.

Shen Nian fled from Jian Li’s killing intent while Lu Xiu returned to building her instance. At the Coordination Bureau, Yan Fushou reviewed intelligence from Prison Rock and decided to share it publicly so Nine Provinces constructers could learn from its dungeon designs.

• Shen Nian offered to wear a maid outfit to appease Jian Li, then watched Jian Li’s hostility vanish when Lu Xiu invited them inside.
• Jian Li gave Lu Xiu a wafer biscuit, and Lu Xiu entered the construction space, leaving Shen Nian and Jian Li alone.
• Shen Nian messaged Yan Fushou about Jian Li’s reaction, and Yan Fushou explained that Jian Li had wanted to ask Lu Xiu to live together.
• Yan Fushou reviewed Queenie’s intelligence about a Prison Rock combat dungeon and discussed frontline soldiers’ progress clearing Sekiro and the Titanfall Instance with Li Shengkai.
• Yan Fushou asked Li Shengkai to have his division’s constructers try recreating the Prison Rock dungeon and planned to send the intelligence to Lu Xiu.
• Yan Fushou decided to seek approval to publish the intelligence on the forum so constructers across Nine Provinces could study Prison Rock’s dungeon concepts.

Lu Xiu dismissed a Prison Rock bare-handed combat instance as too crude to help with her training, then returned to practicing her own roleplay instance. Meanwhile, the framework Yan Fushou shared inspired the Nine Provinces' Architects to pursue a new direction, and a Spirit Pivot Construction Group member believed he had finally solved his design.

• Lu Xiu rejected the Prison Rock instance framework because it lacked the mechanics and restrictions she wanted, then continued training in her office-building scene until exhaustion drove her to leave the Construction Space.
• Lu Xiu found Jian Li and Shen Nian still waiting in her apartment; Shen Nian announced that they would stay for a day, and Jian Li offered Lu Xiu a wafer before leaving with her.
• Yan Fushou posted the Prison Rock instance framework on the forum, prompting players and Architects to discuss its bare-handed combat design as an alternative to copying Lu Xiu's roleplay instances.
• Jin Yi urged the Spirit Pivot Construction Group to use the framework, and the group discussed combining its design with ideas from Lu Xiu's instances.
• Queenie regretted revealing the Prison Rock framework but decided it would not change the balance between the regions; over the following days, Nine Provinces' Architects began designing conventional instances inspired by it.
• A Spirit Pivot Construction Group member excitedly declared that he had figured out how to make his instance, while Lu Xiu announced that she had finally finished something.

Lu Xiu finished building the Sifu dungeon and was forced to wait for the system’s promotional countdown before entering its live verification run. Meanwhile, Yan Fushou tried to persuade Queenie to reveal more Prison Rock dungeons, but the new-release preview for Lu Xiu’s instance appeared before she could answer.

• Lu Xiu completed the Mortal Martial Arts dungeon, named it Sifu, and prepared to test it, but the system delayed her for a five-minute promotion.
• Queenie watched Nine Provinces players discuss the Prison Rock framework while repeatedly drawing inspiration from Lu Xiu’s dungeons.
• Yan Fushou offered to release Queenie from prison if she provided intelligence on at least three Prison Rock dungeons, but she refused to give up her remaining information.
• A system projection announced Lu Xiu’s new Sifu dungeon, leaving Queenie and Yan Fushou stunned.
• After the countdown ended, Lu Xiu entered the rainy martial arts hall and began her verification run.

Lu Xiu’s new instance, Sifu, appeared to use Prison Rock’s framework, but its verification footage showed her defeating superpowered enemies bare-handed with precise technique. The reveal stunned players and Architects, while Queenie realized Sifu had little in common with Prison Rock’s instance.

• The system announced Lu Xiu’s independent unarmed-combat instance, Sifu, and promised live footage of her verification clear.
• Players and Architects across the Nine Provinces feared that Lu Xiu’s instance would outclass their own plans, and they gathered to watch the footage.
• In a nightclub, Lu Xiu’s protagonist deflected and countered superpowered attackers without using visible skills, defeating them with bare-handed technique.
• The footage ended with Sifu’s “Coming soon” announcement, leaving players and Architects stunned by Lu Xiu’s combat ability.
• Queenie demanded to know why Sifu’s roleplay combat differed so much from Prison Rock’s instance, and Yan Fushou told her it had nothing to do with Prison Rock.

The builders’ verification footage of Lu Xiu’s bare-handed dungeon shocked Queenie and led her to suspect Lu Xiu was an apostle, while Yan Fushou learned that she could not be asked for the dungeon strategy because of divine intervention. Inside the dungeon, Lu Xiu defeated her senior brother Yang with ease and regretted that he died before she could fight him longer for skill drops.

• The verification footage showed Lu Xiu dodging superpowered enemies and armed attackers without using visible skills, leaving Queenie and the viewers stunned.
• Queenie asked Yan Fushou about the builders’ ratings, then speculated that Lu Xiu might be an apostle from a Class I or Class II world.
• Yan Fushou explained the Goddess Intervention incident that prevented them from asking Lu Xiu for her strategy, and Queenie refused to explain what she knew about apostles.
• After Queenie was taken from the interrogation room, Yan Fushou wondered about apostles while Lu Xiu continued fighting Yang inside the dungeon.
• Lu Xiu defeated Yang without taking damage, then struck him until his health reached zero and regretted that he had died before she could try for more skill drops.

Lu Xiu cleared her Sifu dungeon without embracing its intended lessons in martial virtue, earning an SSS clear and powerful new skills. Back in her apartment, she decided to test Neutralize with Jian Li and Shen Nian, then launched Sifu for players despite recognizing its difficulty might be excessive.

• The system mocked Lu Xiu for defeating every enemy without dying or showing martial virtue, then gave her dungeon an SS rating and her clear an SSS rating.
• Lu Xiu reached Constructor Level 8 and received Extraordinary · Remnant, which let her imbue her limbs with fire, lightning, or metal attributes and stabilize herself with the earth aspect.
• Lu Xiu received a True Copper Coin, attribute rewards, and the SSS first-clear skill Neutralize, which could redirect unarmed attacks and their attribute energy.
• Lu Xiu returned to her apartment, messaged Jian Li and Shen Nian to arrange a test of Neutralize, and read players discussing the new Sifu dungeon on the forum.
• Lu Xiu checked the dungeon rewards, realized she had left its combat sections very difficult, and launched Sifu for players without changing it.

Jiang Qiu entered Lu Xiu’s new martial-arts dungeon confident that her strength and fighting skills would make it easy, and she quickly defeated the prologue’s opponents. After the story shifted her into the weak body of the revenge-driven protagonist, she discovered that even the first thug was a superpowered enemy who could overwhelm her.

• Jin Yi hesitated to enter Lu Xiu’s new dungeon, fearing it would undermine the Construction Club’s own action-instance project.
• Jiang Qiu entered the dungeon convinced that her strength and skill with fists and kicks would suit its hand-to-hand combat.
• Jiang Qiu played the powerful villain in the prologue, defeated the old sifu, then witnessed the villain kill the child protagonist before she resurrected as that child.
• Jiang Qiu watched the protagonist train and grow up, then took control of him with far lower stats than the villain had possessed.
• Jiang Qiu entered an alley expecting an ordinary thug, but he dodged her punch, ignited his fist with flames, and sent her crashing into an electric scooter.

Jiang Qiu struggled through Lu Xiu’s dungeon, where powerful enemies and a punishing deflection mechanic left her repeatedly dying and aging. After discovering that deaths increased her Strength but also reduced her Agility and health as she aged, she reached age sixty, broke down, and charged out of her office threatening to go after Lu Xiu.

• Jiang Qiu defeated two superpowered slum enemies by dodging and attacking, then failed to deflect a third enemy’s blow and barely survived the fight.
• Jiang Qiu reached a drug workshop, died to its enemies, and revived at full health with increased Strength, believing death was meant to make her stronger.
• Jiang Qiu died again and noticed that each death added more years to her age while her Agility began to decline.
• Jiang Qiu fought through a corridor packed with superpowered thugs, aging to sixty and realizing that repeated deaths also shortened her health bar.
• Jiang Qiu pushed toward another group of enemies, then emerged from the dungeon in reality and stormed out of her office with a blade, threatening to die at Lu Xiu’s house.
• Jiang Qiu’s secretary tackled her and clung to her leg, begging her to calm down.